Yes, Please book review

I was lucky enough back in September to finish two books in the same day. One audiobook and one hardcover book. Yes, Please was the audiobook I finished. And I can honestly say my cat, Oliver, was happier with the audiobook route so I could pet him/have him lay on me as I finished.  He supports my newfound way of fitting in more books, though considering my exercise routine has somewhat changed recently, I have listened to less audiobooks than the earlier part of my year.  This is neither here nor there though.

I had twenty minutes left in Yes, Please after my walk so I thought why not finish it before bed. I wanted to finish this book. I have to say I loved listening to Amy Poehler, as well as others, read parts of her book. The general consensus I’ve noticed is that listening to the book is far better than reading it. In fact, I imagine that most people tried to hear her saying the words while reading the book regardless.  A friend of mine said such an effort was lost in translation from merely reading this particular biography. The audiobook appears to be the way to go with this particular book, if one is a fan of them in the first place that is.

There were many aspects of this book I found refreshing that other people found annoying. One of those being how she randomly would complain about how hard it is to write a book. Writing is hard. I don’t think people honestly think/realize how hard writing actually is. They also have the ability to bore someone to tears, offend them, hurt them, depress them, as well as many other emotions.  The point though is to make someone feel something. Words have the ability to inspire others and kick them into high gear and that’s what this book did for me.

Yes, Please makes me want to say fuck you to the haters and just do me. Be me. I’d like to think I’ve done that for the most part, but I know that’s not entirely true. I now have a bit more perspective on me than I did a couple of years back though and that is important. I know that sounds special but it’s true. This book is empowering. Let it empower you.  Let Poehler remind you that there is an ugly little voice inside of us that needs to be told where to stick it from time to time.  Anxiety and depression can riddle our lives, but we have to take the power back those voices attempt to ultimately take away from us in the first place.

In addition, Yes, Please made me want to come up with more of a plan career wise than I feel I’ve been practicing these past couple of years. Hell, my own words to a friend recently makes me realizing I need to listen to those words and make them more of a guiding force in my own life. So I will thank me and thank Amy for the push. I feel this is so a comment she would make.  And while most people would not wonder what would Amy do, as they would view it as a sacrilegious sentence to write, sometimes it’s not a bad thing to ponder what our idols would do.  We just have to have the right idols to push us in the right direction in the first place.

So take the time to listen to this. I’d like to think you’ll thank us both later.